Wings of Forgiveness
by PFTones3482
Summary: Takes place after Not What He Seems. After getting ignored by her brother for two days straight, Mabel takes a walk into the woods and finds a very special flower. Will Dipper help her and forgive Grunkle Stan and his sister, or is their family bond truly broken? One-shot, kinda stupid but I like it.


**I literally have no idea where this thought came from. But I actually think it's an adorable way to resolve the stuff from the last episode? Idk maybe I'm just nuts.**

**And yes, the title is a load of dorky blargh. **

**Lot of cutesy Mabel and Grunkle Stan moments, a tiny bit of angst, and twin/Grunkle bonding. Plus Stanley who, since we don't know his character at the moment, I have put in here very little. But he's still there. You'll also find some of my theories on what happened between Stanford and Stanley thirty years ago. NONE OF THIS IS CANON SO HUSH.**

**I don't own Gravity Falls or **_**War and Peace**_**, which is briefly mentioned.**

* * *

GENERAL POV

* * *

"Come on, Dipper, please talk to me," Mabel pleaded, twisting the hem of her deep purple butterfly sweater around in her hands. "It's been two days since the portal thingy."

Dipper barely looked up at her, instead burying his nose further into his copy of _War and Peace _that he had decided to read instead of the journal, which was now shoved on the highest shelf that the boy could reach, out of sight and out of mind.

Mabel had been trying so hard to get him to talk to her over the last couple of days; he had said only one sentence to her in that time, and it was: _"I can't believe I trusted you."_

The girl shuddered at the thought and turned away from her twin, tears threatening at her eyes for what was possibly the hundredth time. "I uh…I'll see you later," she mumbled softly, ducking her head and stepping out of the room.

She swallowed heavily and slipped down the stairs without a sound, Waddles appearing at her side as she reached the bottom floor and crossed into the living room, where Stanley was browsing a newspaper.

His presence still made her do a double take; he looked exactly like Stan (which was to be expected, as they were twins) but his hair wasn't quite as gray and he had fewer wrinkles. He was also much more physically fit, and spoke more softly.

But Mabel had grown to like him. She still wasn't quite comfortable with calling him "Granddad" or "Grandpa" yet, but he was a nice person, and had taken an interest in her life almost immediately.

His eyes scanned her over the rims of his glasses, now repaired, and he raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Mabel?"

Mabel winced. "Uh…yeah. I'm going to take Waddles for a walk, okay Stanley?"

The man visibly grimaced at his name but he nodded. "All right," he said, his voice somewhat disappointed.

Mabel sighed and fetched Waddles' leash from the hook on the wall, knowing that Stanley really wanted her to call him something other than his name. But it was just all too bizarre for her to do that, and she had told him that the night before.

"I'll be back," the girl said as she latched the leash to Waddles' collar and slipped out through the kitchen, not wanting to disturb Stan while he was giving tours.

The government agents had yet to come back for him, and in the two days since the portal incident, Stan had somehow managed to get rid of any incriminating evidence and had sealed the door behind the vending machine, destroying all surveillance tapes afterwards.

Mabel wasn't sure what to make of Stanford; she knew that he had had to fake his brother's death and had been on the run ever since, quite possibly because he was a suspect in Stanley's "death," but she also knew that Stan still genuinely cared about her and Dipper, and the man was taking it hard that Dipper wasn't talking to him.

The girl sighed and led Waddles into the woods, following a path that she and Dipper had managed to wear into the grass over the summer. She carefully avoided the gnome's section of the woods and kept her gaze down so that she didn't trip on anything.

"What do I do Waddles?" she mumbled, kicking at a pebble.

The pig snorted happily and the twin pursed her lips as the animal tugged her into a clearing scattered with wildflowers. Waddles immediately plopped down in a patch of them and began munching at the stems and Mabel giggled softly, sitting down next to him and peering up at the clouds, which were becoming grayer and heavier by the second.

"Uh oh, looks like rain," Mabel mumbled absentmindedly, letting her gaze wander the clearing, her keen eyes studying the flowers with delight.

The one that stood out the most was off to the edge, with delicate lavender petals and a vivid green stem and pink center. It seemed almost to sparkle and Mabel stood up and stepped over to it, leaning down and sniffing it.

The smell was like honey combined with sugar and maple syrup and Mabel gasped in delight, her spirits lifting. She wrapped her fingers gently around the stem and, with only a little bit of regret, snapped the flower from the ground with a light crack, intent on bringing it back to the Shack to brighten up the living room.

The wind buffered her hair and she walked back over to Waddles as thunder rumbled in the distance, her nose buried in the flower. "Come on buddy," she said, picking up the leash and tucking the flower behind her ear. "We should get back."

Her fingers had just drifted down from her head when the wind shoved her backwards and pushed her to the ground, sending flowers flying into the air. Mabel lost her breath for a moment and when she glanced up, flower petals from the fallen plants were swirling around her body.

"This….is definitely not good," the girl squeaked, shutting her eyes and preparing to have some kind of plant wizard berate her for stealing a flower.

However, after only a few moments the wind died down and Mabel peeked out from behind her fingers to find that the grass was now taller than her and the flowers were like three story buildings.

"Shoot," she grumbled, carefully picking herself up from the ground and dusting off her skirt. "I guess when you picked the flower it was like what happened with those crystals that Dipper found."

She looked up as lightning cracked across the sky and Waddles, now a solid two feet taller than his owner, squealed in fear, darting out of the clearing and back towards the house with his leash trailing after him.

"No! Waddles!" Mabel cried out, leaping after him with quick bounds and moving so effortlessly that she seemed to be flying.

When she glanced down at the ground, she realized that she actually _was _flying and she screeched to a halt so quickly that she flipped twice in the air before stopping completely, hovering about a foot off the ground.

With a nervous gulp and a sinking feeling in her gut, Mabel glanced backwards, flinching when she saw the silvery purple, dragon fly like wings that now fluttered behind her, connected to her back through her sweater and shirt.

"Well butternuts," she muttered, trying to get a better look at the wings but accidentally spinning in a circle.

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring towards the Shack. "Okay," she said to herself, slowly realizing that this could be the only time she really got to have fun with something like this. "So obviously the flower did more than shrink me. But how do I move-?"

The second the words fell from her lips, she shot forward about ten feet, shrieking and throwing her arms up over her face. He body slammed to a halt and she winced, glancing down at the ground.

"Okay Mabel, you got this," she said in determination, shutting her eyes and concentrating. "Just get back to the house, find Dipper, and-"

She frowned slowly, opening her eyes and sighing in defeat. Dipper wouldn't help her. He didn't want anything to do with her or the journals anymore, and he had made that clear.

Mabel straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. It didn't matter what Dipper thought. She had to get back to the Shack and get help from _someone. _As much as the idea of being a fairy appealed to the girl, she knew that she'd have to get back to normal sometime in the future, especially if the effect became permanent at some point.

It only took her a few minutes to figure out that the wings worked much like her arms or legs; the movement was reflexive and after a second or two of thinking she didn't have to focus as much energy on the idea of flying.

Moving in the air was surprisingly easy, working in much the same way that she had when she had been caught in the anti-gravity of the portal. She just twisted her body however she wanted to move and she moved almost perfectly.

The girl was soon giggling and flitting amongst the tree tops, twisting around and under branches and leaves. A crack of lightning and thunder made the girl freeze in midair and she instantly turned towards the Shack.

Everything that she had ever read about or seen about fairies said that they couldn't fly in the rain, and though Mabel didn't know whether or not that was true, she didn't want to find out and be stuck in the woods.

She tilted her body forwards and fluttered her wings, reveling in the weirdness of it all and shooting back to the Shack.

Thunder ripped through the air just as the old wooden house came into sight and raindrops began spattering down around the girl. She tried to dodge them, but she just wasn't limber enough or fast enough and a large raindrop caught Mabel's left wing on the edge and sent her spiraling to the ground, face first into a pile of dirt the was slowly becoming mud.

"Dang it," Mabel growled, pushing herself to her hands and knees and looking down. Her butterfly sweater was now covered in mud and as the rain began pelting down, feeling like rocks to the tiny girl, she grimaced and pulled off the sweater, holding it over her head for some kind of protection.

She glanced back at her wings to see that they had become soaked and were now lying limp against her back, glowing a faint silver color. Mabel huffed in irritation, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes, and glanced up towards the Mystery Shack, spotting Waddles cowering from the lighting and thunder on the front porch.

Another crack of lightning split the sky in two and lit the air a bright green/silver color and the pig squealed in terror, covering his eyes with his ears and shivering and all together making Mabel feel bad for him.

Moments after Waddles had squealed, the front door of the Shack was pulled open and Stan glanced out in confusion, looking around until his eyes landed on the animal at his feet. Waddles oinked loudly and darted inside under Stan's feet, but the man's gaze was locked to the pigs trailing leash and the lack of owner that was supposed to be holding onto it.

He stepped out onto the porch fully and let the door slam shut behind him, his worried eyes scanning the yard carefully. Mabel shivered and let the sweater fall to the ground, standing up and wrapping her arms around herself, silently cursing the wings currently plastered to her t-shirt.

Stan, now looking somewhat frantic, stepped off of the porch and into the pouring rain, shielding his eyes and scanning the forest anxiously. "Mabel?" he called, his voice echoing across the yard.

Mabel shuddered and raised her voice, feeling very vulnerable all of a sudden. "Grunkle Stan?"

It was faint, due to her size, but it was enough. Stan's head shot in her direction and he narrowed his eyes slowly, scanning the yard. "Mabel? Kid, where are you?"

Mabel winced and glanced down at herself. "Uh…think smaller!" she managed to shout back.

Stan's eyebrows furrowed and his gaze dropped almost instantly to his niece, his face going pale as his eyes landed on her. He immediately strode forward and sank down next to her, reaching a hand out hesitantly. "Uh…how do you…I mean…how should I-?"

Mabel shivered again, her body soaked, and she gulped as she tried to hide her quivering lips. Her bizarre transformation had been fun, but now she was cold and wet and sore and she wanted nothing more than to hug her Grunkle.

The man seemed to realize this and he bit his lip, tenderly scooping her into his hands and cradling her to his chest, shielding her from the rain. His eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead when he saw the glimmering wings attached to his great-nieces back, but he remained silent, slipping inside and setting her down on the kitchen table.

The man busied himself with grabbing a paper towel and running hot tap water into a soda cap, setting the two down next to Mabel and sitting down in a chair next to her. "Soooo want to tell me what exactly happened in the fifteen minutes you were gone?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mabel cracked a small smile and ripped off a piece of the paper towel, using it to dry down her hair and soak some of the water from her skirt and shirt. She plucked off her shoes and set them to the side before starting to scrub the dirt from her skin. "Uh…I took Waddles for a walk and we ended up in this clearing of flowers, and I picked one, and then…"

She wrinkled her nose and gestured to herself, swinging her hair out of the way in order to get the water out of her wings.

Stan's expression was one of amusement and surprise, but he knew that Mabel was not having as much fun with this as she normally would be, so he refrained from teasing her. "And…do you remember what the flower looked like?"

Mabel nodded immediately. "Yeah. Why, is it in one of the books?"

Stan shrugged and stood up. "Maybe. I can definitely ask Stanley, if you're okay with that."

Mabel gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Uh, Grunkle Stan?"

The man glanced back at her, pausing in his trip to the living room. "Yes?"

The girl shivered again. "Um, can I have like, a hair dryer or something?"

Grunkle Stan chuckled and swung into the bathroom that was in the hallway, returning after a few moments with a hair dryer. He plugged it into the wall and glanced at Mabel with amusement. "Do you want help?"

Mabel stood up and braced her feet apart on the table, fists clenching at her sides. "Go."

He flicked the switch to "low" and turned the dryer towards the girl, buffering her with high winds that nearly sent her flying off the table. Stan chuckled in slight awe as she shut her eyes and flapped her wings to keep her body in place, shutting off the dryer when she waved a hand at him.

The girl collapsed to her knees, completely dry, and swung her hair back, smiling sheepishly up at the man as she started pulling her shoes back on. "Thanks."

Grunkle Stan mock saluted her and put the dryer back before stepping into the living room, clearing his throat and waiting for Stanley to look up from his newspaper.

"So uh…we may have a slight problem," Stan said, his lips quirking in a smile.

Stanley rolled his eyes and set the newspaper aside. "When don't you, Stanford? What is it this time?"

"Your granddaughter may or may not have picked a magical flower that turned her into like a pixie or fairy or something."

Stanley shot upright, his eyes going wide. "Pardon?"

Stan snorted. "Come see for yourself."

Stanley quickly followed his brother into the kitchen, paling slightly upon seeing Mabel sitting on the table with her knees drawn to her chest, her body barely the height of his thumb.

Mabel glanced up at her grandfather and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Stanley," she said, giving him a small wave.

Stanley frowned slightly, rubbing his chin. "Mabel, what did the flower look like?" he asked.

Mabel chewed on her lip, letting her legs fall to the table and leaning back on her hands. "It was kind of a light purple, with a pink center. It looked sparkly, which is why I liked it," she admitted.

Stanley nodded. "I have seen that flower," he mumbled, walking over to his bag that was slung on the kitchen counter and rummaging through it, pulling out the first journal and flipping through the pages. "But I don't remember exactly what I wrote about it, or which journal it's in."

He glanced through the first journal fruitlessly and moved to the second journal, slowly realizing what they would probably have to do. Sure enough, he snapped the second book shut with no luck and glanced up, his face tight. "It's in the third journal."

The trio fell silent and Mabel winced. "It's uh…it's in our room," she said softly. "I'm not sure where, exactly, I just know that Dipper didn't want to read it after…you know."

Stanley nodded. "Listen, why don't the two of you go get this figured out? I would love to help, but Dipper obviously isn't comfortable around me yet and I don't want to make this worse than it needs to be."

Stan glanced at Mabel and held a hand out. The girl bit her lip and instead of clambering onto his fingers she flicked her wings and was on his shoulder in moments, settling down comfortably near his collar.

Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes, a smile on his lips, and headed up the stairs, nearly tripping over Waddles, who was now cowering behind a corner table as thunder continued to rumble outside. The man paused for just a moment to unclip the leash that was still on his collar and then continued up the stairs.

He froze outside of Dipper's room, his hand raised to knock and his heart thumping wildly. "Just go in," Mabel murmured right next to his ear, making the man jump a little. "He won't talk."

Stan took a deep breath and twisted the doorknob, stepping inside the room. Dipper's eyes shot up for just long enough to see his great uncle and his jaw locked, his gaze swinging back to _War and Peace_.

Mabel scrunched up close to her uncle's neck, staying out of sight and keeping her wings plastered to her back. "Uh…Dipper, I really need Journal number three," Stan pleaded softly.

Dipper snorted and continued reading and Stan flinched. "Kid, please. Where did you put it?"

The boy rolled his eyes and didn't look up, his knuckles going white as he clenched the book in his hands. Grunkle Stan scowled and crossed his arms. "Kid, your sister's in trouble so give me that book right now or you will regret it."

Dipper's head shot up against his will, his eyes glimmering with something akin to worry. He furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. "What kind of trouble?" he asked slowly.

Grunkle Stan raised the slightest eyebrow and held his hand palm up. Mabel winced and fluttered out from the shadow of his collar, landing lightly in her uncle's hand and keeping her eyes to the ground.

She heard Dipper's breath hitch and risked peeking up at him. He was staring at her, jaw open and eyes wide. "How…?"

He shook his head and stood up on his bed, rummaging behind the books on the top shelf and pulling the journal out from behind several others. He tossed it at Stan and the man barely managed to catch it.

Mabel flew off of his palm in order to keep him sane and hovered in midair, glaring at her brother as tears formed in her eyes. "You're a jerk," she hissed, straightening her body.

With a single flick of her body she was out of the room, leaving Dipper and Stan in an uncomfortable silence. Stan looked over at Dipper sadly and shook his head. "I know I screwed up, Dipper," he muttered, glancing down at the worn cover of the journal, "but trust me when I say that losing your twin…it's the worst thing you could do to yourself."

With that, he walked out of the room and left Dipper to ponder his words.

* * *

Stan found Mabel perched on the front porch railing, her chin on her knees and her wings fanning open and closed behind her, her cheeks stained with tears.

Grunkle Stan sat down on the rocking chair on the front porch and flipped the book open, scanning the pages quietly. "You know he'll get over it," he murmured.

Mabel sniffled and glanced back at her Grunkle, her eyes filled with anger. "Maybe," she growled. "But this…this is the worst thing he's ever done to me."

She shuddered and turned away again, leaning heavily against the porch railing supports. Stan winced and continued flipping through the pages until he found the flower Mabel had described. "Hey, here it is," he said softly.

Mabel took a deep breath and fluttered over to him, perching delicately on his wrist watch and glancing over the words. "But it just says what happens when you pick the flower," she pointed out. "Which we already knew."

"Probably written in invisible ink," Stan grumbled, patting at his suit pockets. "I'm not sure where my black light is, though I'm sure if I asked Stanley-"

"Would this one work?"

Stan and Mabel glanced up to see Dipper in the doorway, his eyes on the ground and his hand holding out his portable black light. Stanford took it from him with a soft word of thanks and clicked the light on, scanning the words on the page.

"Okay. Looks like you just have to go back to the clearing and talk to the other fairies there," Stan said with a completely straight voice. He snorted. "I don't even want to know how Stanley figured out the cure to this."

Mabel leaned over the pages and studied the words. "I just talk to their queen and ask them to change me back. Says here they're pretty nice, and unless you really meant harm to the flower patch or the woods, they'll turn you back with no problem."

"Seems simple enough," Stan said with a shrug, snapping the book shut as soon as Mabel had backed off of it. "Do you want to go now?"

"It's pouring," Mabel protested, flinging her hand out.

Stan nodded. "Well, yeah, but it's not supposed to stop until late tomorrow. And I doubt you want to be stuck like that for too long."

Mabel smiled sheepishly. "Maybe not," she admitted. "If I knew I could easily change back and forth, it would be a different story, but since I can't…."

A slight cough came from behind them and they turned to find Dipper there, an umbrella in his hands. "I uh…I'll come with you, if you want," he mumbled, glancing away.

Mabel and Stan looked at one another and Mabel smiled hesitantly. "Of course, bro," she said softly, fiddling with her hair.

She settled back down on Stan's shoulder and the man took the umbrella from Dipper, flipping it open and holding it over them as he stepped down onto the muddy path.

The walk to the clearing was silent, and when they got there, Stan glanced awkwardly at his niece. "You need to talk to them yourself, hon. I don't know how receptive they'll be of big people like us."

Mabel nodded and Stan leaned over, plucking a leaf from the forest floor and handing it to Mabel for her to use as a makeshift umbrella. The girl nodded to her relative and flew off, leaving Stan and Dipper in an awkward silence.

They sat down quietly on a damp log, the umbrella between them, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. Finally, Dipper took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he whispered, staring at his hands. "I…I was just…_so mad _at you for lying to us all summer. I had just started trusting you and then you…you dropped that bombshell. And on top of that, my own twin went behind my back."

Stan winced and rubbed his chin. "Listen, Dipper. I never intended for you kids to get involved. I had been trying for thirty years to get Stanley back and had pretty much given up. But…it all changed when I realized that you had the third journal, and when you got the second one from Gideon. I didn't know how to complete the portal before then and had realized I'd probably never have seen Stanley again."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Dipper demanded, turning to Stan with anger flashing in his eyes. "We could have helped you, we could have kept the government agents off the property, or something!"

Stan flinched as if he'd been slapped. "Kid you…you saw what happened with McGucket. How he went insane. We…he and Stanley and I….used to be really close. And then with the Blind Eye…I didn't want you kids to get caught by them."

Dipper raised a slow eyebrow. "Grunkle Stan, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and I defeated them like two weeks ago. There is no more Society of the Blind Eye."

Stan's eyebrows shot up. That was news to him. "Well…okay. But it was more that I didn't want you kids getting hurt, I suppose," he admitted. "When Stanley disappeared….and then Fiddleford started using the machine on himself…"

His voice cracked and he grunted, shaking his head and holding his hands out helplessly, looking more vulnerable than Dipper had ever seen him. "I couldn't lose anyone else," he finally whispered.

Dipper's eyes softened and he scooted a little closer to Stan. "I'm sorry," he murmured again. "I…I almost made a deal," he admitted.

Stan's head shot up, his eyes flashing as he looked at Dipper. "With…not with Bill, Dipper. Don't you dare tell me you kids have been talking to that demon?"

Dipper flinched and looked away. "I…after the portal incident…he showed up in the attic while I was…you know, breaking down. Offered to make a deal with me that…that put us back in time, made it so that Mabel would never open the portal. And I…I almost said yes. It wouldn't have been the first time," he snarled, clenching his hands into fists.

Stan's eyes narrowed slowly and Dipper shook his head. "Not like…not like that. I wanted the password to McGucket's computer, and he tricked me and possessed my body and…that's why I said no this time. If he took me over in the past, if he took over Mabel in the past…when he said he'd make it so Mabel would never open the portal…he wasn't clear enough for me to be confident that he wouldn't kill her," he whispered hoarsely, his voice choked.

He looked up at Stan, his eyes watery. "I'm sorry," he said again.

Stan hesitated for only a moment before drawing the boy into a tight hug and rubbing his back soothingly. "I am too," the old man mumbled, letting the boy break down in his arms.

Mabel stepped out of the clearing just then, back to normal and with a smile on her face. At her side was a sparkling, tiny humanoid figure and the girl was taking something from the fairy and slipping it into her pocket when she caught sight of her brother in Stan's embrace.

Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly bid the fairy goodbye, stepping over to the two quickly and studying her brother carefully as he looked up, his eyes rimmed with red.

"Mabel, I-"

"Shut up, stupid," the girl whispered, tackling him in a hug and shaking as she started crying.

Stan swallowed hard, refusing to cry in front of these kids again, and he gently stroked Mabel's hair, letting the two get everything out. When they finally separated, Mabel jumped up and hugged Stan around the neck, burying her face in his shoulder. "Thank you," she murmured, so softly that he wasn't sure he had heard it.

Stan nodded and stood up, Mabel clutched in one arm and the umbrella in his other hand. He held the object over Dipper's head and tilted his head back towards the Shack. "Think you're up for actually meeting you grandfather?" he asked hesitantly, worry flashing behind his eyes.

Dipper gave a small smile. "Yeah."

As they walked back toward the Mystery Shack, Stan suddenly remembered something. "Mabel, what was that thing that the fairy or whoever gave to you?"

"Oh!" Mabel yelped, shooting up in her uncle's embrace and digging into her skirt pocket, drawing out a smooth, sparkling stone. "This! She said whenever you flip it into the air and then catch it, you can switch from being tiny and back! She gave it to me because she said she liked how I treated animals and plants and stuff and that I was worthy of it. Look!"

She flipped it into the air, and Stan suddenly realized with horror that if Mabel caught it while she was still holding him, he would-

"WAIT! MABEL, NO!"

There was a flash of bright silver light and Stan grumbled in irritation as he felt himself sink to about the height of his hand, Mabel still clasped in his arms. He looked up at Dipper, who was struggling not to laugh, and wagged a menacing finger at him. His face twitched in annoyance as he felt the wings that now protruded from his back flutter behind him, and he fought to keep an angry expression.

"Not one word, mister."

* * *

**Okay, so that might have been terrible, but I had a dream that was literally just Mabel as a fairy flying towards the Mystery Shack and then face planting into mud and Grunkle Stan finding her. That was it, and I wanted to do something with it.**

**Reviews?**


End file.
